Agricultural and Horticultural Levy Bodies

Lord Rooker: The right honourable Margaret Beckett announced on 11 November 2005 the main conclusions of an independent review of the five statutory agricultural and horticultural levy bodies and the start of a public consultation on the recommendations of that review.
	Following completion of the public consultation process and discussions with main stakeholders, I and my ministerial colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have concluded that the statutory levy should be retained in all sectors but that a number of improvements should be made to the current arrangements. We have also concluded that processor and dealer levies should continue in those sectors where they currently apply, and the general and promotional levies in the meat sector should be merged.
	The five existing levy boards—the Horticultural Development Council, the British Potato Council, the Home Grown Cereals Authority, the Milk Development Council, and the Meat and Livestock Commission—will be replaced with a single levy board and a number of wholly owned subsidiary, sectoral companies covering horticulture, potatoes, cereals, milk, pigs, beef and lamb. The new structure will come into force on 1 April 2008.
	Prior to the new structure coming into place, it is intended that the chair-designate will conduct a "fresh start" review of the current requirements of each sector, take a view on what activities could meet those needs, and consider what implications that might have for the levy rates in the different sectors.
	Restructuring of the levy boards will require the passing of an affirmative statutory instrument, under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.
	Ministerial colleagues in the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Executive will be making statements today concerning the future of the meat bodies, Hybu Cig Cymru and Quality Meat Scotland.
	A summary of the responses to the public consultation received by Defra is available on Defra's website. Copies of the public consultation responses themselves are available in the Defra library.

EU: Economic and Financial Affairs Council

Lord McKenzie of Luton: The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Gordon Brown) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On 7 June 2006, I represented the UK at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN).
	The council held a debate on reports by the Commission and the European Central Bank on fulfilment by Slovenia and Lithuania of the Maastricht treaty convergence criteria and their obligations regarding economic and monetary union membership.
	ECOFIN was briefed by the Commission on the EU's dialogue and co-operation with the United States on economic issues in the run-up to the EU-US summit to be held in Vienna on 21 June. The Commission's briefing covered economic co-operation majoring on the financial markets regulatory dialogue. The UK welcomed the Commission's progress and pressed for greater detail on priority areas for progress next year, including moving into new sectors.
	The council agreed on renewal of value-added tax arrangements for ecommerce from 1 July until 31 December 2006 and to continue work on the other elements of the package of VAT measures with a view to reaching global agreement by the end of the year. The UK supported both these measures.
	ECOFIN welcomed unanimously the production of the communication of the Commission to the council on combating tax fraud.
	The Commission presented its communication on work undertaken by a technical working group examining company tax obstacles inhibiting the functioning of the internal market. ECOFIN held an exchange of views. No conclusions were drawn.
	ECOFIN also took note of a report from the Code of Conduct Group for Business Taxation and adopted conclusions welcoming the progress made by the group during the Austrian presidency.

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: Today I have deposited copies of The Freedom of Information Act 2000—Statistics on Implementation in Central Government January to March 2005 in the Libraries of both Houses.
	This is the first quarterly bulletin produced by DCA monitoring of the performance of central government and associated bodies under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Land Charges

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: I have today laid before Parliament the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (Supplementary Provisions) Order 2006 ("the order") under Section 143 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The order relates to Section 13A ("Section 13A") of the Local Land Charges Act 1975 ("the 1975 Act").
	Section 13A transfers the Lord Chancellor's responsibility with the consent of HM Treasury under the 1975 Act for setting local land charges search fees, except fees for personal searches, to registering authorities (usually local authorities) in England. Section 13A requires registering authorities to set fees for local land charge services. It also provides that before setting fees local authorities must have regard to such guidance as the Lord Chancellor may have issued.
	Section 13A was inadvertently and prematurely brought into force by the Constitutional Reform Act (Commencement No. 5) Order 2006 on 3 April 2006. The commencement of Section 13A revoked the previous rules specifying fees under the 1975 Act without notice and before any guidance had been issued to registering authorities. This was a serious error for which I apologise to the House.
	The order corrects this error. It provides that for the period 3 April 2006 until 1 April 2007 each registering authority will, in the exercise of its duty under Section 13A, be treated as having specified the fees that were chargeable before 3 April. This period will allow sufficient time for the Department for Constitutional Affairs to prepare and consult on guidance to registering authorities on the exercise of their duty under Section 13A and for those authorities to prepare properly for setting their own fees. The order does not invalidate any fees that may have been specified and collected by a registering authority under Section 13A before 28 June 2006.

Ministry of Defence: Key Targets

Lord Drayson: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Tom Watson) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Key targets for the financial year 2006–07 for the following Ministry of Defence agencies and trading funds have been placed in the Library of the House:
	ABRO 1
	Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
	Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency
	Veterans Agency
	1 ABRO was formerly known as the Army Base Repair Organisation.

Prisons: HM Chief Inspector

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr Gerry Sutcliffe) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Today I am delighted to announce that the appointment of Anne Owers CBE as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons has been extended until 31 March 2008. Ms Owers's expertise and knowledge will continue to play a key role in enabling the prisons inspectorate to deliver a credible and effective inspection programme for prisons, immigration removal centres and other establishments.